This study focuses on four main questions: 1- What distinguishes migrants from non-migrants? 2- What are the private economic gains from migration? 3- How important is psychic cost in migration decisions? 4- What are the determinants of psychic cost? A five-year longitudinal sample of low income families forms the sample population for a data bank of variables to be used in the analysis. Included are: personality and attitudes, economic behavior, economic status of individual and family units, background of individuals, and current exogenous influences on the individual. Regression analysis is being used to determine social, psychological and economic variables which are most important in answering the above questions.